Son signed up for Army training without telling us

[anotherglass]

My 20-year-old son, who is at university studying engineering, has signed up for University Officer Training. He has signed a contract and undergone a medical. We only found out last night.
He is a young man who loves Leonard Cohen, plays the guitar and enjoys building electrical systems. Now he’ll be learning parachuting, marksmanship and how to shoot at targets.
I understand the appeal. Around £50 a week, exciting training, new friendships, adventure, mountaineering, climbing and paid overseas trips. For a young person at university, it must sound like an extraordinary opportunity.
At present, these reservists cannot be deployed. But in the current climate, I am deeply uneasy about how secure that assurance really is, and how quickly this position could change.
I haven’t yet managed to speak to him properly about it. But I am deeply troubled that the possibility of a change in status, including being redesignated and potentially becoming deployable, does not appear to have been made sufficiently clear at the outset.
A quick search online suggests that there is already discussion within parts of the military about getting a greater return on the investment in training university officers by making them deployable. If that is a possibility, surely young people need to understand it before they sign a contract — not simply be told about it if the rules change later.
This is what troubles me most. A package of pay, training, adventure and belonging can be enormously attractive to a 20-year-old. But the potential obligations and risks deserve equal prominence.
I know my son is an adult, and I respect his right to make his own decisions. But I am his mum, and the thought that he could one day be called upon to serve in a conflict — when that possibility is not something we had understood to be part of the deal — is genuinely frightening. Anyone else in the same position? Any thoughts on how to navigate this with son?

He's joined in something that has "Army" in the job description.

If he doesn't understand the implications, as someone who was intelligent enough to be doing an engineering degree, id be wondering what id done wrong as a parent.

Give your son more credit.

He knows. He just chose not to tell you until it was fait accompli probably because he knew what your reaction would be.

Be worried for the future, but don't do your son a disservice by insulting his understanding

Officers training. That means he'll not be doing active combat I think? They tell the combat ones what to do don't they? It's the posh part of the army isn't it?

In the First World War, the junior officers had the highest casualty rates. They were the first over the top.

One housemaster at Harrow lost 27 of 'his boys'.

Over 1,100 Old Etonians - boys and masters - died, out of about 5,600 who served.

It is not 1940 and he won't be put in a trench.

Unlikely to have been in a trench in 1940.

This is quite helpful in cutting through the noise, so thank you.

@anotherglass, I'm a former U.S. Army officer, and I went through ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) in uni, so it's roughly the equivalent program in the U.S.

If his contract says he's non-deployable, I don't think the BA can change that retroactively. With the ROTC, there is a commitment to either join the deployable reserves or go on active duty, at the Army's choice. I was called to serve on active duty, and I don't regret it for a minute.

If there is general mobilization (which is extremely unlikely, even in the event of a war), he's far better off going in as an officer than an enlisted soldier. The other thing you may not understand about the army is that only 20-25% of soldiers are front-line warfighters. The rest work in specialties like signals/communications, logistics, medical, combat engineering (building things), headquarters jobs, etc.

I served in the Intelligence Corps and deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Granby/Desert Storm, and I worked closely with a BA regiment on our flank. It was not a picnic in the park, but the army takes care of its people, and the BA officers I got to know were excellent and very protective of their soldiers.

While it's understandable that you are concerned, I think you are misleading yourself by thinking your son was somehow bamboozled into signing up. If he's bright enough to be in uni, he'll understand what he's done. And it's likely to be very good for him and his career in the long run. Employers love to see military service, particularly by officers, on a CV.

As a former member of an OTC it was one of best decisions I made. There was a lot of drug taking at uni but my friendship groups would rather be hill walking at weekends and looked after one another. It taught me teamwork, leadership, to have confidence, speak to strangers, public speaking. I learned to use a firearm, but I also learned first aid and to keep fit and try new challenges. I still use processes that I was taught then in project management today. Compared to my peers I got so much more out of uni. One night I saw an accident as we came out of a nightclub, when I went to help, I realised apart from one other bystander the only people helping was those I was serving with, others looked on in shock, while our training kicked in.

Yes he may have to deploy, but if they call up the otc then it will be a countrywide call up and your son will be in a better position.

It's a bit of a pity that this sort of training and oppotrunity for young people to gain qualifications is not available without putting oneself in the firing line.

If they leave the program with a non-deployable status, how are they putting themselves in the firing line?

I’d be proud if my son signed up. Why is it that it’s ok for others people’s children to keep us safe.

Plus even if there is some sort of call up I’m sure that they’d have better use for someone with an engineering degree than combat.

I understand this - my point was that all the posts saying 'he's an adult, you can't control him' are irrelevant.

OP: you're being ridiculous.

Points I can make with conviction, fwiw:

1. Engineers are very valuable resources, they are (especially) not risked in combat
2. All soldiers are very valuable resources, trained to their highest ability, losing that investment would be poor logistics: there are no cannon fodder in modern UK military.
3. My son joined BritArmy 10 yrs ago & has yet to be in a combat situation, although he's gone overseas for work lots in Europe & Middle East. Started as a squaddie then went thru Sandhurst. Nowadays he's a paper pusher, and manages resources day to day.
4. FGS trust your son to make good decisions about his own life.

Blimey. If you are worrying this much, because the rules might change in 20 years time and former members of the UOTC might be called up, God help you if he decides he enjoys the training and joins the real army.

I don't know which towns you live in, but I live in london and don't recognise this as a significant risk.